JERUSALEM

To view the movie, click inside the frame:

From

(Movie 'Jerusalem' puts even more power to the words of Stanley Goldfoot's words below: http://www.aish.com/movies/jerusalem.asp)

PROVOCATIVE WORDS OF POWER

A LETTER TO THE WORLD FROM JERUSALEM
Stanley Goldfoot Z"L
Founder Editor of The Times of Israel August 1969
I am not a creature from another planet, as you seem to believe. I am a Jerusalemite -- like yourselves, a man of flesh and blood. I am a citizen of my city, an integral part of my people.
I have a few things to get off my chest. Because I am not a diplomat, I do not have to mince words. I do not have to please you, or even persuade you. I owe you nothing. You did not build this city; you do not live in it; you did not defend it when they came to destroy it. And we will be damned if we will let you take it away.
There was a Jerusalem before there was a New York. When Berlin, Moscow, London and Paris were miasmal forest and swamp, there was a thriving Jewish community here. It gave something to the world which you nations have rejected ever since you established yourselves -- a humane moral code. Here the prophets walked, their words flashing like forked lightning. Here a people who wanted nothing more than to be left alone, fought off waves of heathen would-be conquerors, bled and died on the battlements, hurled themselves into the flames of their burning Temple rather than surrender; and when finally overwhelmed by sheer numbers and led away into captivity, swore that before they forgot Jerusalem, they would see their tongues cleave to their palates, their right arm wither.
For two pain filled millennia, while we were your unwelcome guests, we prayed daily to return to this city. Three times a day we petitioned the Almighty: "Gather us from the four corners of the world, bring us upright to our land; return in mercy to Jerusalem, Thy city, and dwell in it as Thou promised."
On every Yom Kippur and Passover we fervently voiced the hope that next year would find us in Jerusalem. Your inquisitions, pogroms, expulsions, the ghettos into which you jammed us, your forced baptisms, your quota systems, your genteel anti-Semitism, and the final unspeakable horror, the Holocaust (and worse, your terrifying disinterest in it) -- all these have not broken us. They may have sapped what little moral strength you still possessed, but they forged us into steel. Do you think that you can break us now after all we have been through? Do you really believe that after Dachau and Auschwitz we are frightened by your threats of blockades and sanctions? We have been to Hell and back -- a Hell of your making. What more could you possibly have in your arsenal that could scare us?
I have watched this city bombarded twice by nations calling themselves civilized. In 1948, while you looked on apathetically, I saw women and children blown to smithereens, this after we had agreed to your request to internationalize the city. It was a deadly combination that did the job: British officers, Arab gunners and American-made cannon.
And then the savage sacking of the Old City: the willful slaughter, the wanton destruction of every synagogue and religious school; the desecration of Jewish cemeteries; the sale by a ghoulish government of tombstones for building materials for poultry runs, army camps -- even latrines.
And you never said a word.
You never breathed the slightest protest when the Jordanians shut off the holiest of our holy places, the Western Wall, in violation of the pledges they had made after the war -- a war they waged, incidentally, against a decision of the UN. Not a murmur came from you whenever the legionnaires in their spiked helmets casually opened fire upon our citizens from behind the walls.
Your hearts bled when Berlin came under siege. You rushed your airlift "to save the gallant Berliners." But you did not send one ounce of food when Jews starved in besieged Jerusalem. You thundered against the wall which the East Germans ran through the middle of the German capital -- but not one peep out of you about that other wall, the one that tore through the heart of Jerusalem.
And when the same thing happened 20 years later, and the Arabs unleashed a savage, unprovoked bombardment of the Holy City again, did any of you do anything? The only time you came to life was when the city was at last re-united. Then you wrung your hands and spoke loftily of "justice" and the need for the "Christian" quality of turning the other cheek.
The truth is -- and you know it deep inside your gut -- you would prefer the city to be destroyed rather than have it governed by Jews. No matter how diplomatically you phrase it, the age old prejudices seep out of every word.
If our return to the city has tied your theology in knots, perhaps you had better re-examine you catechisms. After what we have been through, we are not passively going to accommodate ourselves to the twisted idea that we are to suffer eternal homelessness until we accept your Savior.
For the first time since the year 70 there is now complete religious freedom for all in Jerusalem. For the first time since the Romans put the torch to the Temple everyone has equal rights. (You preferred to have some more equal than others.) We loathe the sword -- but it was you who forced us to take it up. We crave peace -- but we are not going back to the peace of 1948 as you would like us to.
We are home. It has a lovely sound for a nation you have willed to wonder over the face of the globe. We are not leaving. We have redeemed the pledge made by our forefathers: Jerusalem is being rebuilt. Next year -- and the year after, and after, and after, until the end of time -- in Jerusalem!

The Original "YAHOO!"

Click on the photo to view Bruce Brillo's rendition of the origin of 'Yahoo!'

From 0906 Vintage Strummers

Vintage Variety of Strummers at AACI

From Vintage Variety of Strummers at AACI

There are times when a person just has to let his hair down and enjoy life in spite of the dictates of surrounding situations in which we might otherwise want to commit hari-kari.
So, last night while the young and the restless were out carousing the streets of the cities of Israel, a group of those who are somewhat considered "the old relics" of society by the younger generation, but what we ourselves consider to be the "oldies, but goodies", gathered at the AACI and enjoyed the live entertainment of a vintage variety of 'strummers'.
Whether strumming on the old banjo, guitar or Appalachian dulcimer, stringing along on the fiddle, pounding out music on an antiquated out-of-tune piano, or strummin' the ol' washin' scrub-board, our Vintage musicians belted out quite a variety of songs, those 'oldies, but goodies'.
The small crowd sang along with songs from the Beatles, a little country Bluegrass, Klezmer favorites and Dixieland all dating back as far as the mid-1800s. So what if we were out of tune and no two people sang the same words!
Bruce Brill was MC, "Minstrel of Ceremonies", for the evening, accompanying the others with diverse stringed instruments. His son Deyf-Deyf, who just returned from India, started us out with music from the Beatles era, but was cut short by his dad who considered that particular era "modern" music.
David Baron spirited things up with Carlebach songs in addition to some of his own creative songs, while Judy Cohen's home-grown humorous songs about present day life made everyone roll with laughter.

From Vintage Variety of Strummers at AACI

Along came Elazar Brandt accompanied by his wife Krina, of whom he is extremely proud of and oozes with love and affection for her. (They still consider themselves relatively newly-weds, even though, they are recently new GRANDparents. Elazar is the "Jazz Man" of Israeli society, well known for his Dixieland music. He can be found anywhere from the streets of Jerusalem to the Comedy Theatres, to entertaining at dinners for huge organizations, to Bar or Bat Mitzvahs, to visiting children on the obscure settlements. He's the closest thing to the jolly man in red known to kids around the world that you will find in the Middle East, lovable & harmless, entertaining to kids of all ages, 1 year-120 years.
Bruce's rendition of what he considers the original, Biblical "Yahoo!" is a real classic and a favorite of mine!

MaiNoah: Life in the Land of the Jews

My name is MaiNoah Katz. I’m an eighth grader living in the town of Neve Daniel in Gush Etzion, which is in Judea in the Land of Israel. (short pause) I live next to an ancient highway where a big part of the history of our people took place.
When I walk from my house to the bustop, I pass the spot where our father Abraham first saw the place where G-d told him to sacrifice Isaac. It’s the road that Joseph took when he was sent by his father to look for his brothers. A little further on is where Elazar the Maccabee was crushed by an elephant in one of the battles against the Greeks, which is why the community next to mine is called Elazar. A short distance from there is an ancient mikveh, where pilgrims coming to Jerusalem would immerse during Second Temple times. Close to our own time, the defenders of Gush Etzion held off the Egyptian army in 1948 and that way saved Jerusalem for the State of Israel.
And now: President Obama wants to tell me that this is not my home?!?!? (short pause) That I’m a stranger and a foreigner here? (short pause) If I don’t belong here, where do I belong? (long pause)
Any Jewish kid knows that whenever the world called us strangers and foreigners, the next step was to chase us out and try to destroy us. We all heard our grandparents describe, how even though we Jews were peaceful and productive citizens in every land we lived in, we were always eventually hated and hunted. (short pause) That is until G-d showed us open miracles and we finally returned home . . . because this was our only home. Just like our prophets foretold thousands of years ago.
When I was 9 years old, my parents took me to Gush Katif. They said they wanted me to see with my own eyes what the world really means when they talk about “peace.” My brother and I played on the beaches and in the parks. We stayed in the beautiful town of Neve Dekalim that was filled with people and life and singing. And then I saw the most terrible sight in all Jewish history: I saw masses and masses of Israeli soldiers dressed in black, marching into town like the Romans did 2,000 years before to destroy it all.
Gush Katif taught me what politicians mean when they talk “peace” and that history hasn’t changed: the world continues to blame the Jews for all kinds of terrible things, telling all kinds of terrible lies. But, because I’ve been lucky enough to grow up here -- not only learning the Bible, but surrounded by it; not only learning Jewish history, but living it -- I know who I am and I know where I belong. (pause) And that’s right here. (pause) Because this is the only place where the Jewish people do belong. (pause)
Thank you.

Rally at American Consulate in Jerusalem

(A beautiful lady with a dynamic personality and a message from the heart. ABi)
My name is Zahava Englard. I made aliyah 3 years ago and I live in the Judean Hills, the heartland of Israel. I have one son in the army and yet another scheduled to go in, in the coming year. And, one thing is for sure, my sons did not come to live in this land and join as proud soldiers of Israel’s Defense Forces in order to carry out President Obama’s destructive policy of chasing out our own people from our own land.
We, the Jewish people, the only legitimate heir to the Land of Israel have but one authority to adhere to. And, the last time I checked, God does not reside at the White House, or at the State Department.
Apparently, President Barak Hussein Obama is looking to make new friends. He is looking to make friends with those among the Arab nations who support, train, finance and harbor terrorists. To this end, General Keith Dayton’s term has been extended in order to train the so-called Palestinian army at the U.S. taxpayer’s expense - an army that will indubitably be used against the Jewish people.
To this end, Obama has concocted a Middle Eastern policy borne out of ignorance and arrogance. Ignorance in not realizing that a policy based on apologetic appeasement is translated by the Arab mentality as a posture of weakness. Arrogance, in thinking that he can persuade Iran to relinquish their nuclear agenda by using his electioneering charisma.
To this end, Obama has surrounded himself with delusional anti Israel protagonists such as the likes of John Zogby, Hillary Clinton, Samantha Powers, Emanuel Rahm, and George Mitchell to name a few.
You can go ahead and try to make new friends President Obama. Moreover, at the expense of your own country’s national security, you can continue to ignore the real threat of global jihad from the very creatures you wish to cultivate as allies while you repudiate and isolate Israel, the only true ally the United States has in the Middle East. But, we promise you this, you will not buy your new friends with Jewish blood.
We the Jewish people have survived and stood up to 2000 years worth of nations, empires and various entities who rose to destroy us. Yet, we have not only survived. Indeed, we have risen out of the ashes of Europe and persevered to return with the help of God to our God given land, to re-establish our sovereignty over this Jewish Land- our Land of Israel. What, President Barack Hussein Obama, makes YOU think that you will succeed in destroying us where others have not. I have three words for you in this respect:
NO YOU CAN’T!
We will not lay down our arms; we will not relinquish our land. Apparently they must have skipped over this little fact in your history class back in Indonesia, and that is, while foreign armies and empires may have ransacked and ravaged the land as they passed through here throughout the ages, we, the nation of Israel, are the only people on this earth to have ever established a sovereign state on this, our Holy Land. The land of Israel in its entirety belongs to the Jewish people alone.
The so-called “Two State Solution” is an oxymoron in and of itself. It has become a code word. A code word used by the U.S. State Department, the European Quartet and the Arab conglomerate of terrorists – as a gentleman’s way (if you will) of begetting the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.
We, the Jewish People of Israel are Jerusalem. We are Haifa, we are Shechem. We are Migron, Judea, Hevron, we are Tel Aviv, we are Takoa, Yitzhar, Maaleh Rechavam, Shdema and we are Kiryat Arbah.
As far as stopping the settlements, President Barak Hussein Obama? NO YOU CAN’T!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

To quote one of our guests: "The soul of the Jewish People lies embodied in the Land of Israel. That's the reason Jews are returning home!" In addition, that's the reason they continue to lay claim to their rightful God-given inheritance and build over and over again!

From Community of Avigyel 2009

From Community of Avigyel 2009

The community of Avigyel, south of Kiryat Arba has a number of new homes being built for the young families which live there. Visitors planted trees on the community to fulfill the mitzvah of planting trees when you settle the Land.

From Chazon David in Kiryat Arba

From Chazon David in Kiryat Arba

Hazon David Synagogue in Kiryat Arba is on the pathway between two Jewish communities. It's one of the most beautiful Tents of Jacob in Israel today.

From Federman Farm 2009

Federman Farm near Kiryat Arba has been a controversial issue for some time. Yet, even though their beautiful home was totally razed to the ground, Noam Federman continues to dwell on the property.

From Maale Rechavam 2009

At twilight we arrived at Maale Rechavam and greeted by a bonfire and the comfort of their beautiful succa which is a harbor for the community gatherings. I love this place! It lies in 'no-wheres-ville' in the Judean Hills. Although we had some great speakers, as you can tell by my photos, my interest is in the beautiful, warm and friendly residents of the community.